The Acolytes of Crane (Theodore Crane, #1)(109)

In less than a few seconds, we were out of orbit, as Tritillia loomed below us as a greenish-blue ball in the cosmos.

Once she realized we were all safe, Mariah ran to one of the cabins of the ship to devitalize. There was a void in her life now—a loss of love—and consequently, an absence of faith. I had to speak with her alone.

‘Mariah, is it okay if I step in,’ I asked, dreading the moment to come. She was curled-up, bawling her eyes out. ‘Mariah, I’m really sorry about Lin—’

‘You don’t have a clue! Lincoln and I were in love!’

‘I know,’ I muttered, my voice shaking. I began to cry too, and she hugged me back.

‘The only reason we went to Tritillia was that he talked us into it. It was for you!’

She hit me in the chest with her fist. It hurt, but I knew the pain would go away in a few minutes. ‘I’m sorry, I really am—’

We both were crying, and we each wiped away tears. She snapped angrily at me, ‘You’re always talking about trust, honesty, and integrity. You! You betrayed us! You left us behind!’

‘I was under attack. I still don’t know who took over my mind… it wasn’t me!’ I shouted back.

‘Well, you have screwed everything up! You bring us to this godforsaken place, and we’ve lost Lincoln, and Liam!’

Self-doubt pulverized me, and worse than Travis’ first blow that smashed me, left me utterly desolate.

‘Liam. I knew something was up. Tell me about him,’ I pleaded. I did not want to hear any more, I could not—in fact—take any more bad news. But I had to be strong—for Mariah. And for Dan.

Dan walked in our conversation, dejected. ‘I’ll tell you, Ted. Mariah needs to grieve.’

While tears streamed down all our cheeks, Dan recalled Liam’s braveness. As soon as it was over, Mariah stood up. She grabbed a panel on the wall that shielded a storage space, ripped it right off its hinges, and threw it to the floor.

‘Really, how selfish can you be? How dare you? This conversation is over! Come back when you are ready to apologize,’ she fiercely whispered to me, trembling all over.

She pushed me out of her way, and stomped away to a private room to be alone. As the automatic door slammed, I felt the air forced from the motion of it.

Dan sighed. All the emotion had drained from his face. ‘I’ll go too,’ he said, and walked away.

Now I was truly alone. Dan was right. When Jason died, people let me mourn in peace. I realized that I was such an insensitive twit the entire time I had been aboard the Uriel. I was so caught up in a whirlwind to save Sephera that I didn’t even think twice about losing my grandparents. All of a sudden, Sephera no longer seemed worth it—for now.

There was no time to sit and feel sorry for myself, not even a moment to heal mentally. But I knew I had to channel my anger into doing something good, like I did when I reported my parents to the police. Maybe that was why Travis was so entranced by evil: he knew nothing else but hate. Instead of confronting his hate, he became it.

They used him to find something that my grandpa discovered about the Dietons. And the secret was still safe with Zane. And with me.

I was just a teenager, out in space. I did not know what to do. At once, I was both the most useless warrior ever, and still the most important link to saving Sephera. I stared straight ahead, not thinking, not feeling. Liam. Lincoln. Marv. Laverne. Jason. My thoughts drifted in and out into nothingness.

Something alerted me out of my fog.

‘Theodore,’ a sensual voice from behind me called out from a speaker on the dashboard. I turned to look. With one glance at the lovely visage, my useless, sterile thoughts dissipated. My hardened warrior exterior shed off in less than a split second. I was now the happy boy that Theodore Daniel Crane had once been.

‘Tez!’ I exclaimed, my heart fluttering.

‘Oh, Theodore, You have really shaken things up around here. Please tell me you are okay, tell me the boy I met in the halls of the Uriel is still fighting for the right reasons,’ she said.

‘That is just it. I realize more than ever today, what I am fighting to save. I am not fighting for Zane. I am not fighting for me, and I am sure as hell not fighting against the enemy just for the sake of fighting. I hope you can believe me. This battle is for Sephera and life. With Travis defeated and a Driad too—we are shaping up to be an awesome team.’

‘Theo, please don’t get swept away by your recent victories. The deaths of Travis and Kurod are really just a fraction of the war. Odion wrenches his grip on our multiverse, he just wastefully discarded them upon your blade,’ she said. She was absolutely right.

‘Tez?’ I asked.

‘Yes, Theo?’

‘Don’t give up on me.’

‘I won’t.’

‘What about your Dad?’ I shouted through the intercom, although the loud volume wasn’t necessary.

Tez sounded apprehensive. ‘He was in the battle on the planet. Is he still alive?’


‘Wow!’ I nearly freaked out. So Trazuline was after me too—or was he? ‘Yes! All the Urilian ships survived. They chased the Dacturons away.’

I could hear a long sigh of relief from the other end. ‘Ted, that means a lot to me. I know he’s one-hundred-percent behind you…’

Fear gripped my heart. ‘Tez! I forgot!’